No Democrat has won a statewide race in Texas in decades. But conditions are friendlier than ever.
There's a reason no Democrat has accomplished a statewide victory in Texas since 1994.
Pulling off such an upset would require a uniquely talented politician running an almost perfect campaign. That candidate would need to display discipline, calm and poise. Be telegenic and quick on the feet. The candidate would need to be thoroughly Texan and have an identity infused with elements of the state's cultural zeitgeist. The person would need to run in a halfway decent national political environment. And even with all of those boxes checked, that rare Democrat would still need to square off against an extraordinarily disliked Republican running a lackluster campaign without much support from the person's own colleagues.
Enter: Rep. Colin Allred.
Allred's remarkable debate performance Tuesday spawned a flurry of Instagram slides, TikTok videos and X posts. Both in Texas and nationwide, news feeds have been flush this week with clips of the former professional football player **rebuking Sen. Ted Cruz for hiding in a "supply closet" during the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol
a riot by a mob that Cruz himself helped whip up**. Others showed him repeatedly referencing the time Cruz flew to Cancun, Mexico, as hundreds of Texans died during the middle of a winter freeze, or hammering him on his abortion stance
an issue critical to white female voters who have been abandoning the GOP in droves.
But an impressive debate performance alone is not enough for a Democrat to win a state like Texas. However, polls, fundraising and a changing political climate have all looked promising for Allred. Today, Texas Democrats are in an extraordinary situation, one that has proved elusive over the past three decades: They have an actual chance of winning a statewide race.
The only politician who has talked about taking away guns in recent memory was Trump.
Beto said it and it cost him the election.
Beto never spoke about guns during his Texas Senate campaign. There were only gun-loving conspiracy rumors about Beto “taking your guns”.
He spoke out about gun buyback programs and AR-15s in 2019, during his brief presidential campaign, the year AFTER he lost to Cruz.
Texas chose Ted Cruz over Beto O’Rourke before he ever spoke about guns.
Beto didn’t just run for senate. He also ran for governor. After his presidential campaign. And lost. I was just pointing out that someone actually did say they wanted to take guns away in reply to someone who said politicians never say that.
“Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/12/politics/beto-orourke-hell-yes-take-ar-15-ak-47/index.html
It was a really stupid move on his part, though after losing to Cruz he probably didn’t have a chance at beating Abbott.